Complications
by Alice39
Summary: Tennis was simple, right? Well, Akaya should have just stick to tennis, and not other things, because where he's heading now is a whole lot complicated, and it probably won't be easy to go back. A fic with OC, cameos, humor, romance, and a seaweed devil. Chapter 5: It was always a given that Akaya, Marui, and Niou together with no supervision would end up in a disaster. Not really
1. Chapter 1

Complications

Tennis was simple, right? Well, Akaya should have just stick to tennis, and not other things, because where he's heading now is a whole lot complicated, and it probably won't be easy to go back.

A/N: First ever fic Please comment, any reviews, criticism or praise, will be acknowledged. Alerts will be acknowledged, too.

"Buchou!" Kirihara's loud voice echoed through-out the whole Rikkaidai's tennis courts, as Yukimura greets everyone as serenely as he usually do.

"Akaya," the ever-enigmatic buchou replied with a nod, a smile evident in his face.

"Ne, buchou," Kirihara inquires, "Are you free this afternoon?"

The remaining tennis club regulars stopped to look weirdly at Kirihara, with the exception of Sanada who walked towards the two, and Yukimura laughed, before he said, "Ano, Akaya, I'm going somewhere later on."

"EEEHH?" Akaya pouted, before he complains, "But, but, there's this movie out afternoon, and I thought that buchou might want to watch Hell Rings with me."

Sanada went up and asked, "Hell Rings?"

"Sa-sanada-fukubuchou.!" Akaya gave a sheepish smile before he said, "I-it's nothing."

"Hell Rings is the latest gore movie that was just released today," Yanagi said as he steps out, "It's a very horrific tale, and it has mature content."

"Mature Content?" Sanada repeated, before he asked, "Is that the reason why you asked Yukimura to watch it with you."

"E-eto, ano.." Akaya looked around before he sighed and said, "Well, I was thinking that buchou can just smile at the people at the movie house and they'll allow us to watch it… even though we're under-age."

A silence passed through the courts before Jackal said, "You really think that buchou's smile can be your ticket at a mature movie?"

"What are you saying," Niou smirked, and added, "Anyone will give in to Yukimura-buchou's smile."

"Yeah, yeah," Marui seconded, and patted Akaya on the back, "Nice plan, Akaya."

"Hahaha," Yukimura chuckled, and added, "Well, I would have given that a try, Akaya, unfortunately, I'm going to visit the hospital after practice."

"Hospital?!" Sanada asked, voicing the regulars' surprise.

"Not like that, Sanada," Yukimura chuckled again, before he added, "I'm visiting someone."

Yanagi asked, "A new candidate?"

"Eh?" Yukimura tilted his head before he said, "It's a girl."

Marui popped his gum, Niou smirked like a chesire cat, Hiroshi's glasses glinted, Jackal grimaced, Yanagi opened his eyes, forget the stoned Sanada, and Kirihara voiced out a loud, "EEEHH?"

Yukimura sighed before he said, "Time to practice."

After hours of grueling practice, the whole court was devoid of anyone but the regulars, who simultaneously headed to the locker room, that is before Yukimura picked up his tennis bag, and said, "I'll be going first."

Before anyone can reply, Yukimura said, "Sanada, Renji, take care of the team."

As both members of the Rikkai's Three Demons simultaneously nod, Yukimura walked out of the tennis courts.

-Next scene-

"Yukimura moves damn fast." Niou said with a smirk before he heads to the locker rooms.

"Heh," Marui grinned, "I've always pegged Mura as a nurse's man."

"Fatty," Niou shook his head, with Marui protesting in the background, "It's not a nurse he's visiting."

"Eh," Marui tilts his head, "You know who, Haru?"

"Well," Niou shrugged as he showed a photo of Yukimura and a girl who looked liked a middle schooler.

"A girlfriend, huh," Marui nodded his head, squinting a little and paused, as he adds, "Well, I guess it's perfectly natural."

"EEH?" Akaya screamed as he overheard the conversation, and asked, "Buchou has a girlfriend?"

"Geez, bakaya," Marui smiled, and said, "It was about time."

"Yeah," Niou nodded, and said, "It's perfectly normal, and we're talking Yukimura here, the girl must be pretty special."

"B-but," Akaya said, close to tears, "I thought tennis was buchou's priority, not girls."

Neither replied, and Akaya burst out of the locker room, hurriedly out of the courts.

Niou smirked, and before a while, Marui said, "Haru."

"Marui," Niou replied back, and then he smirked that smirk.

"That girl isn't Yukimura's girlfriend," Marui asks, "Isn't she?"

"Hmm," Niou pauses, before he casually shrugs before he said, "Of course not."

He adds, "Mura's married to tennis, anyhow."

"So," Marui nods, "What are you trying to do by making Akaya hysterical, not that I don't find it hilarious."

Niou shrugs again and said, "It's the springtime of youth."

"Please," Marui blanches, "Don't make philosophical remarks, you trickster."

"Well, if you are the genius you say you are, fatty," Niou continued, ignoring Bunta's protest, and said, "You'll understand it in a few days time."

"Hey," Marui said, "I am a genius, but I'm not fat."

"So you say," Niou said as he walked off, and said, "You still up with our coffee, Jackal's treat, remember?"

"Of course, that's free treats," Marui grinned, before he said, "I'll be catching up in a while."

Niou nods, and Marui arranges his tennis bag. As he walks off, he stopped as he noticed that the picture that Niou showed earlier was left in the bench.

Marui picks it up, and for the first time, notices the familiar girl. Who was this girl with lavender hair and pale blue eyes again..?

"Shit," Marui curses as his eyes widen in realization.

"What are you trying to do by letting Akaya in on about that girl that you love, huh, Haru?" Marui said as he popped his gum and notices another picture.

It was the picture of the same girl but this time it was with Niou, and while the girl was smiling, Niou was looking intently at the girl, eyes averted from the camera.

Marui takes the two pictures before he drops it in Niou's locker and walks off, wondering, but then decides not to think about it, but instead concentrate on the treat Jackal will give them.

-Next scene-

Akaya panted, as he breathed heavily, and entered the hospital. The people inside immediately noticed him, and a female nurse went up to Akaya, and asked, "Are you okay?"

Akaya nods, and pauses as he tries to stabilize his breath, and then he said, "Is there any water?"

Of course, in every female in the place thought, the cute boy was sparkling, complete with doggy ears, as he asked, "Water? Pleaaase?"

The astounded female nurse nods right away, and asks him to sit down and wait as she went to the nurse section to get water. Akaya nods back, sitting patiently and breathlessly on one of the chairs, before thinking about the conversation he has overhead a while ago.

_Is buchou really visiting his girlfriend?_

It's not that Akaya can't accept the existence of Mura-buchou's supposedly girlfriend, but Akaya never really thought that Yukimura would have one, because, logically, anyone sane enough knows that Yukimura is married with tennis, and Akaya supports that fact.

However, the overheard conversation between his two sempais sounded a little true, try as he might deny. Well, if buchou liked the girl, then, why not, right? But somehow, Akaya cannot understand that Yukimura-buchou would try to hide it from them, after all, aren't they a family, even though most of the times dysfunctional, but still?

As Akaya tried to contemplate on the matter a bit more, the nurse tapped him in the shoulders, and before he can even react, handed him with the water, with a little, "Here it is."

"Thank you very much." Akaya said with a cute, innocent smile, and the female nurse couldn't help but blush.

"If you ever need anything, feel free to ask me in the counter," she said as she points to the nurse counters then walks off as soon as she saw Akaya nod.

Why was Akaya here again? Oh, right, buchou.

Akaya breathes out as he took out the picture of the girl, the one in the other picture with Yukimura-buchou, which has magically appeared in his tennis bag. He have no idea, but maybe Niou-sempai, or Marui-sempai placed it in his bag to help him with his search.

He remembered asking around for information, and also remembered the reaction as he shown is to the other regulars.

-Next scene-

_Akaya walked towards Yagyuu-sempai and Jackal-sempai as he ran out of the clubroom and met both of them waiting in the gates, and then he saw the picture in his tennis bag, and remembered that it was that girl with his buchou._

_So he asked them, with the picture in his hand, "Ne, sempai-tachi, do you know her?"_

_Unnoticed by Akaya, Yagyuu's glasses glinted, and Jackal's smile decreased in size. Akaya tilts his head to the side, and Jackal asked, "Where did you find this?"_

"_Ano, it magically appeared in my bag," Akaya said with slight embarrassment, before he inquires, "Isn't she Yukimura-buchou's girlfriend?"_

"_Hahaha," Jackal let out a laugh before he said, "Is she now?"_

_Akaya's eyes widen, unable to detect the sarcasm in Jackal's voice before he said, "Is she?"_

_Neither Yagyuu nor Jackal commented and Akaya took it as a yes, and before anyone can give anymore reaction, Akaya run off to find the other two of the Rikkai's Three Demons._

_As soon as Akaya is out of sight, Jackal said, "Isn't that girl…"_

"_Niou-kun's..?" Yagyuu continued for him, and answered, "I think so, yes."_

"_Hmm," Jackal wondered, "I wonder how Kirihara got that picture.."_

"_Anyway, that's Niou-kun's and Kirihara-kun's business," Yagyuu shrugged as he steered the conversation to another topic, "Where are you treating us, Jackal-kun?"_

_-Next scene-_

_Akaya panted, but managed to reach both Sanada-fukubuchou and Yanagi-sempai who were casually walking by a river, talking amongst themselves quietly, but stopped to turn around when Akaya shouted, "Fukubuchou! Yanagi-sempai!"_

"_Ah," Yanagi nodded despite the small surprise, and said, "Akaya."_

"_Akaya!" Sanada said, and asked, "What are you doing! Shouting so loud in the streets, you're being a nuisance to the surrounding people."_

"_Eh," Akaya shivered with slight fear of Sanada-fukubuchou, before he bowed and said, "Sorry!"_

_Yanagi smiled before he asked Akaya, "So, is there anything you need, Akaya?"_

"_Uh, right!" Akaya grinned as he tilted his head to the side, and rummaged his bag, and before Sanada can comment, he held out the photo of the girl and asked, "Do you know her, sempai-tachi?"_

_Yanagi's eyes opened before it closed immediately after and Sanada looked at the picture, realizing that it was somewhat familiar but refuses to recognize it, as he dismisses it and said, "I don't know her."_

"_Oh," Akaya looked somewhat crest-fallen at Sanada's answer before he looks at Yanagi and said, "How about you, Yanagi-sempai?"_

"_She's," Yanagi pauses before he said, "My data assumes that the girl is currently in a hospital."_

"_Oh," Akaya nods, and asks, "Which hospital?"_

"_Akaya, do you remember the hospital Yukimura was previously admitted in?" Yanagi asks, and Akaya nods, and Yanagi adds, "She's staying there."_

"_Oh." Akaya said for the third time, he bows to both his sempai, and runs, but not before he whips, "Thank you, sempai-tachi."_

"_Akaya." Renji stops him in his track, and as Akaya turns around, Yanagi said, "Her name's Akashi Chiyoko."_

_Akaya nods, and bows again, and continues to run to the hospital._

"_Akashi Chiyoko," Sanada repeats as Akaya was out of view, and asks Yanagi, "Isn't she Yukimura's cousin?"_

"_She is." Yanagi nods, and then he asks, "That's the first thought that came into your mind when you heard her name, don't you?_

"_Is there anything else?" Sanada asks._

"_You never changed, Genichirou," Yanagi sighs, and then adds, "That girl is, was maybe, Niou's…"_

"_Is she?" Sanada said, "Chiyoko is Yukimura's cousin, Yukimura's, we all know that, don't we?"_

_Yanagi shakes his head before he added, "Of course."_

"_Then that's all there is to it." Sanada declares, and the topic was temporarily dropped off, and both Demons of Rikkaidai continued walking._

_-Next scene-_

Well, if Akashi is what Yanagi-sempai said she was, then maybe they met on the hospital? Maybe during the times that the regulars were on practice and no one kept Mura-buchou company. Akaya took another look at the picture, somehow, the girl was familiar, and he can't help but think that maybe he knows someone related to her, or maybe she was in his class at times?

Akaya can't fully grasp who she is, but still, another look at the picture and he understands that she might be Yukimura-buchou's type, that is, if buchou had any type of girls whatsoever. After all, the girl looked like one of those girls that would smile daintily, and would love to take care of gardens, but that's probably just Akaya's judgment

He shrugs, he'll know soon enough, probably, and then he walks to the nurse counter, and asks, "Ano, do you know where Akashi Chiyoko is staying?"

"What's your relation to her?" The female nurse asked as she looks through the files. Akaya tilts his head and said, "I'm her friend."

The female nurse blushed at Akaya's cuteness, and decided not to ask further questions, and then said, "She's staying in room 039, in the fifth floor of the hospital."

Akaya nods, and then ran off once again.

-Next scene-

Akaya reached the fifth floor by foot, and as soon as he arrived in the fifth floor he was breathless for the nth time of that day. He pauses for a while to catch his breath, tennis practice is harsher than this, and then he walks around.

"036, 037, 038, 039, 040…" He tracks back his steps and said, "039?"

Unable to contain his excitement and nervousness, he knocks the door, and alas, Yukimura-buchou was there, and Akaya cannot help but squeak, "Buchou?"


	2. Chapter 2

Complications

A/N: Please read and review. Reviews, criticisms and praises will be acknowledged. Alerts will be acknowledged, too. )

-Start Chapter-

_Unable to contain his excitement and nervousness, he knocks the door, and alas, Yukimura-buchou was there, and Akaya cannot help but squeak, "Buchou?"_

Yukimura looked , the ever-serene smile present in his face, and he asked, "Akaya?"

"Yep," Akaya said with bright and shining eyes, which lost it's glimmer when he heard a feminine voice from the inside call out, "Who is it, Seiichi-niisan?"

Akaya narrowed his eyes, only a handful of people call his ever respected buchou, and this girl here is calling him by his first name in such a casual manner, not to mention that she dared inquire his buchou. He was making rude judgments about the owner of the voice, probably that Akashi Chiyoko, when he tracks back again, and repeats, "Seiichi-niisan?"

Yukimura chuckles, and then he fully open the door to let Akaya, the curious little devil, inside of the hospital room.

Akaya's eyes were temporarily blinded the moment he stepped on the room. Weren't hospital rooms supposed to be white and boring? Then, why is this room covered in lavender all over with unsightly yellow curtains? And why is there a mini-garden, here, too? Not to mention a small refrigerator that's halfway open and the small table in the opposite corner of the room.

Thinking about how unfair this treatment was compared to his buchou's prior stay at the hospital, he grumbled, before he heard a little giggle, and his eyes went for the kill, and immediately concentrated on the bed-ridden girl who was looking at him with mild interest.

She looked familiar to Akaya, despite not meeting even once, and then she noticed her lavender hair flow down her shoulders and that oh-so-familiar blue eyes that look like the sky. And then his eyes, ignoring what his brain wants to do, examined her face in a more detailed manner. She had small, pinkish lips, and her complexion is pale, maybe lighter than ivory, even.

Another look at her face, because Akaya knows better than to check-out Yukimura-buchou's possible girlfriend, and Akaya mentally cursed. The girl looks like a female version of his buchou, except the size, but he can't compare that now because the girl is bed-ridden. But he blanches at the thought, after all, if what his sempaitachis said were true, then this girl might be buchou's girlfriend, and buchou will never date anyone who's related to him. Probably, or his childhood would be ruined.

"Ano," the girl, Chiyoko starts, and asks, "Who are you?"

"Hmph," Akaya sneered, and then he said, "How can you not know about me if you're buchou's girlfriend?"

The two looked at Akaya weirdly with mixture of pity and amusement, and Akaya shook his head as he continues, "I'm like, Yukimura-buchou's greatest underclassman of all time."

"Oh," Chiyoko coughs, and then adds, "Will you please repeat what you said a while ago?"

"Oh, you mean, me being Mura-buchou's greatest underclassmen of all times?" Akaya said, beaming with pride. Chiyoko shook her head as she stifled a giggle, and then Akaya paused for a while and said, "Oh! You mean the one, you supposedly being buchou's girlfriend?"

Another silence passed, and Akaya twitched and then, looking at the two's amused disbelief, he said, "Isn't that right?"

"Akaya," Yukimura smiled serenely, a little predatory, and then asks, "Where did you hear that from?"

"Eh?" Akaya looked at his buchou with slight confusion. He pauses, and then he gave a sheepish smile, "I… kind of overheard it from Marui-sempai and Niou-sempai."

"From Marui," Yukimura asks, then pauses as he looks at Chiyoko in the bed, and continues to inquires, "and Niou?"

Akaya tilts his head to the side before he beamed and said, "Yep."

Yukimura's smile remained but he continued to ask, "What exactly did you overhear?"

"E-etoo.." Akaya paused, before he said, "Niou-sempai and Marui-sempai told me that you might be visiting your girlfriend in the hospital, and, well, they showed me a picture of you two, so, I, um, kinda thought that you two are together."

"Really," Yukimura nods in amusement, and then he said, "Akaya, what did I told you about Marui and especially Niou? Especially about what they tell you?"

"Ano.." Akaya pauses as he think, and then a realization dawned upon him, "Ah! Buchou, you told me not to completely believe in whatever Niou-sempai and Marui-sempai says."

"Yes," Yukimura nods, and then he asks, "So, what do you think about what they said now?"

"It's true!" Akaya almost shouted, and then he adds, "I asked Jackal-sempai and Yagyuu-sempai if you were dating her and they didn't reply."

Chiyoko was looking at the two with mild amusement, but did not bother to join the conversation, considering that the other boy, Akaya, was it, was talking animatedly at her older cousin. Though she was a little confused about what he called her, because no matter how nice or good-looking or talented his older cousin was, there was absolutely no way she's going to date him. It's morally wrong.

"They were speechless when I showed them her picture," Akaya added, and then he said, "I didn't know her name by then."

As Akaya noticed Yukimura looked at him a little inquisitively, he rummaged his bag and then shove the solo picture of Chiyoko in Yukimura's face excitedly, and then he exasperatedly adds, "They were speechless when I showed them this picture! Maybe they thought that I wouldn't know about this and maybe it's an upperclassman secret, but they look speechless, buchou!"

"Akaya," Yukimura tilts his head as he sat on one of the chairs and asks, "Where did you get that picture?"

"I don't know, buchou," Akaya casually shrugs, "I'm thinking that Niou-sempai or Marui-sempai placed it in my bag to aid my search. It just magically appeared in my bag."

"Is that so?" Yukimura said, still evidently amused, and then he asks, "So, how did you find about her name? And the hospital and her room number?"

"Yanagi-sempai gave me her name when I showed the picture to him and fukubuchou," Akaya shrugs, and then he adds, "And I asked the nurse for the room and they gave me this room."

"Oh." Yukimura nods, and then he inquires, "Did Niou say something? Or Yanagi?"

"Niou-sempai just went on about her probably being your girlfriend," Akaya said, and then adds, "And Yanagi-sempai just gave me the hospital address and her name."

Yukimura contemplated and paused, "Is that so?"

At Akaya's energetic nod, he chuckled and then he said, "Yanagi probably forgot to mention to you that Chiyoko here is my cousin."

"Oh." Akaya smiled, and then he pauses, and looks at the two continuously before he asks, screams, "She's your cousin?!"

"She is," Yukimura smiles and Chiyoko smiled identically too.

"Ehh, but, but.," Akaya stammered in realization.

"They were probably pulling a prank on you," Yukimura chuckled, and then asks, "But are you sure that Niou did not mention anything else?"

Akaya shook his head as he said, "No, buchou."

"Hmm," Yukimura nods sagely, and then said, "So, shall I introduce the two of you?"

-Next scene-

Akaya sweated bullets after the fact that he just embarrassed himself in front of Yukimura-buchou and his cousin finally came into mind. It was a good thing the girl didn't react negatively, because who knows what kind of punishment buchou might give him if he mess this up.

He gulped as Yukimura nods and decides to introduce both of them to each other, he was wating for the other to speak, but one look from Yukimura, and then he nervously smiled as he said, "I'm Kirihara Akaya, a regular of Rikkaidai High's tennis club."

"Hmm," A smile played on the girl's lips and then she said, "I'm Akashi Chiyoko, I'm Seiichi's cousin."

An awkward silence pass between the two of them, both smiling nervously, and then Yukimura sighed as he said, "Chiyo, you said you wanted strawberry ice cream, didn't you?"

The girl brightened and perked up at that as she shyly said, "U-um, yes."

Yukimura nods as he gave her a warm smile, and then Akaya perked up as well, saying something about volunteering, before Yukimura cut him off and said, "I'll be the one to buy the ice cream. You want one, too, Akaya?"

"Yep." Akaya grinned at the prospect of food, before he asked, nervously, "S-so, does that mean that I..?"

Yukimura smiled the ever-famous charming yet sadistic smile as he said, "Yes, you'll be staying with Chiyoko until I come back."

Both teens looked at Yukimura with surprise, before Chiyoko protested, "I-I can take care of myself for a few minutes..!"

Yukimura nods at that but counters, "Yes, but it's better if there's someone to accompany you while I'm gone."

Before any further protest was made, Yukimura went out of the room, but not before warning, "Be good, you two."

And the door clicked shut, and the two teens looked everywhere but each other, and then simultaneously sighed.

-Next scene-

"That Haru," Yukimura muttered as soon as he was out of the room, and then adds, "What is he plotting, making Chiyoko meet Akaya, after that horrible incident…"

Yukimura shook his head and then said, "I believe in Haru, he won't hurt her… ever."

With that he shrugged and renewed his composure as he walked down the stairs of the hospital.

-Next scene-

"Ne, Niou," Jackal started as the four Rikkai regulars sat on a coffee table. He saw Niou looked at him with raised eyebrows, so he continued, "Did you say something about Akashi-san being buchou's girlfriend? Specifically to Akaya?"

A silence passed over the table, Niou not bothering to answer the question as he shrug and drank his coffee. Marui sighed, and then he declares, "We were playing with Akaya, you know, I mean, he was too concerned about buchou so we might as well complicate things."

"Heh," Niou finally spoke up, and then he said, "That brat was eavesdropping and it was too obvious."

"Hmm," Jackal nodded thoughtfully, and then he said, "You know, Akaya showed us Akashi-san's picture a while ago."

"Picture?" Marui narrowed his eyes, and then he slurps his drink before he asks Niou, "You placed her picture on Akaya's bag?"

Niou decided that the cheesecake looked good at that time, and as he took a bite, he shrugs, and then he asks, "So what if I did something like that?"

All of the other three regulars looked incredulously at the apathetic form of Niou who continued to eat like nothing happened or as if there wasn't anything of note in the previous conversation.

"Niou-kun, I believe that you still like her, no love her," Yagyuu sighed, and then he adds, "That incident that led to that almost tragedy has nothing to do with you however, Niou-kun."

Niou dropped his fork, and then he gave a wry smile, "Honestly, of all things to tell me Hiroshi, that's what you tell me?"

"Am I wrong, Masaharu?" Yagyuu asked, his glasses glinting dangerously.

"Calm down," Marui said as he popped a gum and then said, "I think that Haru knows what he's doing, probably."

"But still," Jackal insisted, and then added, "Just because she had selective amnesia and inconveniently forgot about us, doesn't mean that we should act like we don't know her."

Marui shook his head, and then he said, "Stop it, Jackal, you-no, we, don't know her that well enough."

Yagyuu huffed, and then he said, "I still don't think that it's the right thing to do, considering that she just woke up from her comatose of almost half a yea—"

A loud slam stopped Yagyuu from continuing what he said, and Niou said, in the most serious of his voice, "Let's just stop talking about this."

The other three flinched at the tone of his voice. Jackal and Marui sighed, opening another topic, but Yagyuu huffed a little, grumbling but not saying anything at all.

"Hey," Marui started as he steers the conversation, "I think Yagyuu's a little less gentlemanly this days."

-Next scene-

And the door clicked shut, and the two teens looked everywhere but each other, and then simultaneously sighed.

Akaya sat down on one of the chairs, and looked around the room. He stared once again at the walls, at the curtains, and once their eyes met, he averted it immediately, this time concentrating on the refrigerator, which was still half open…

…And Akaya saw ChocoRobots, the one in a million, super expensive chocolate hanging in one of the sections of the refrigerator. The best thing that Akaya can manage is wipe the drool that was leaking out of his mouth.

Looking at Akaya completely mesmerized with the chocolate in the refrigerator, Chiyoko laughed softly, and then she said, "You can take it if you want."

"Eh?" Akaya immediately shook his head, wanting to be anything but a nuisance to his buchou's cousin, and so he said, "I can't take it."

"Hmm," Chiyoko mused, and then silence took over again, this time, Akaya snapped out of his chocolate reverie, and was now sitting awkwardly. After a long pause she called out, "Ano, can you bring me that ChocoRobot?"

Akaya looked at Chiyoko with mild confusion, and then he obliged, seeing that the girl was bedridden and would probably have difficulty moving around. Akaya wanted to open the pack as soon as he got ahold of the chocolate from the refrigerator, however, self-preservation kicked in and he wordlessly dropped, gently, the chocolate on the girl's awaiting hands.

"Well," Chiyoko opened the pack, and it was evidently too big for her to eat alone. She sighed, and pointed a look at Akaya's direction, the boy reacted by shivering, and she gave a small smile, as she offers, "Ne, Kirihara-san, will you help me finish this?"

"E-eto…" Akaya stopped, but then shook his head.

"That's no good," Chiyoko sighed, and then she said, "I can't just throw the food to the trash if I don't finish this."

Akaya gulped, and then Chiyoko looked at him in the eye, and Akaya wished that he averted the gaze, because right now, he feels like he is staring at his buchou's own eyes, and that was a hard thing to say no to.

"Here," Chiyoko offered the half with a smile at the defeated Akaya, who took it from her hands.

After a while, Chiyoko was peacefully munching on the chocolate, while Akaya was still frozen, and was not eating the treat yet. Chiyoko gave another sigh, and then she said, "Ne, eat up. It's yummy."

Finally, Akaya defrost, and then he sighed, and looked at the girl gratefully, before saying, "Idatakimasu!"

There was peaceful silence once again, the girl munching half-way her chocolate when Akaya finished wolfing down his half. Chiyoko gulped as she comments, "Wow."

"Heh," Akaya grins, probably calmed down by the food he has taken and said, "It was yummy."

"Isn't it?" Chiyoko said and then she smiles, "I always ask my mother to buy me this chocolate, you know."

"Eh?" Akaya replied, half-amazed, and then asks, "Since when?"

Chiyoko pauses, taken aback by the question before she answered, "Since I was in this hospital, two months ago."

Akaya almost punched himself, but he restrained himself, and said, "Oh."

Another silence passed, the girl looking a little sad, the cheerfulness from before fading. Before Akaya can make some sort of apology, he was scared to make this girl cry, the consequences will be harsh, Chiyoko bounced back and then asks, "So, what year are you now?"

Akaya was taken aback at the girl's recovery, and then he cleared his throat as he answered, "First year high school."

"Oh." Chiyoko nods, and then she smiled, "I'm first year high school, too."

A pause, and then Chiyoko adds, "After I recover, I'm going to transfer to Rikkaidai University."

"Cool," Akaya said with a smile, and then he asks, "Since when were you together with buchou?"

There was another pause, and then Akaya sheepishly smiled as he said, "Did that question make any sense?"

"Haha," Chiyoko laughed softly, and then she grasped her pillow tight as she said, "I've been with Seiichi-nii since forever."

"Eh," Akaya rubs his head, "How come I don't see you at Rikkaidai, though?"

"Hm, mm." Chiyoko shook her head, and then she said, "I'm not studying at Rikkaidai, I study at Midori Middle School."

"Midori Middle School?" Akaya asks, and then he lets a low whistle, as he comments, "Isn't that the exclusive girls school for elites?"

Then he adds, "That's nice, and I bet you're really smart."

"Haha," Chiyoko laughs again, this time a little louder than before, and then she said, "Not quite."

"Eh?" Akaya said tilting his head. Chiyoko continued to giggle, and after a small period of time, both decided not to converse, and the silence this time was a little more comfortable, at the very least, it wasn't awkward in any form.

-Next scene-

Akaya lounged at his seat as he watches an anime from the television. From the corner of his eye, he saw Chiyoko dozing off quietly, breathing in harmonious intakes.

Chiyoko was an awkward girl, that was Akaya's first impression of her, and maybe it was partly his fault. But then again, girls were awkward to Kirihara, and the only girl that wasn't awkward was An, but the girl was feisty and talkative, anyway, and the other girls that Kirihara knew of were either the fangirls, of the female team's regulars, and while he gives some recognition to the female team, he doesn't give a damn for the fangirls.

Well, Akaya has nothing against discreet, and dainty girls, he concluded as he watches her from the corner of his eye. The whole time was filled with silence, at times awkward, but that was fine, at least the girl wasn't too loud or brash or insensitive. Akaya also thinks, contemplates more likely, that the girl was being polite, or something along those lines.

Not that he minded, though. As long as Chiyoko does her stuffs, gives him a piece of an ultra-chocolate, and doesn't cry, Akaya's fine with her. At least, she's not crying, that would be disastrous and scary.

Chiyoko stirred from her small nap and then she asked, "Is Sei-nii..?"

"Buchou's not yet here," Akaya straightened in his seat, and then he asked, "Are you hungry or something?"

"Mmmm…" Chiyoko shook her head, and then she sighs, "He's late, way too late."

"..huh." Akaya looks at the tennis-shaped clock at the room, and said, "It's already been an hour.."

After saying that, he then looks around the room, and saw several tennis designed items, and then he asks, "Do you play tennis?"

"A little," She said, and she mused out loud, "It would be impossible not to, considering that Sei-nii always plays tennis."

"Hmm, that's a good racquet," Akaya nods, and then he saw a familiar tennis racquet in the corner, probably similar to one of his sempai-tachi's racquets, and then he asked, "Did you receive that from buchou?"

"Eh," She took a look at the racquet, and then she shook her, head, "It wasn't Sei-nii who gave me that racquet.."

Akaya wordlessly formed an o-shape with his mouth, and before he can ask any other questions, there was a knock at the door, and Yukimura promptly entered the room.

Chiyoko shook her head, and then she mused, "You're late."

"Sorry Chiyoko," Yukimura said with a sheepish smile, and then he looked at Kirihara, "Sorry for keeping you, too, Akaya."

Akaya looked at Yukimura with a smile and then he said, "It's alright, buchou."

Yukimura nods, and then shows them the package he brought, and then he took out two small ice-cream containers.

"Here, strawberry for you, Chiyoko," Yukimura said as he handed Chiyoko a container, and then gave the other container with an, "Here, Akaya."

"Honestly," Chiyoko grimaced, "Do you think I'll be able to finish a WHOLE container, Sei-nii? I-"

She was promptly interrupted by a loud Kirihara who screamed, "THIS IS A CHOCOROBOT EXCLUSIVE ICE CREAM!"

Silence reigned the room, as the two other people in the room stared at Akaya amusedly, smiling. Chiyoko stifled her giggle, and Akaya, sheepishly smiled, as he said, "Thanks so much, buchou!"

"Hahaha," Yukimura chuckled, and then he said, "I remembered that you loved ChocoRobot a lot, so I went and bought it for you."

Close to tears in his eyes, Akaya nods, and then he proudly screamed, "I have the best buchou!"

"I have the best underclassman, after all," Yukimura ruffled Akaya's hair and then he said, "Eat up, now, you two."

Both first-years nod, and Yukimura sat on the table, but not before taking some food, a cake, in the refrigerator, and eating as well.

"So, I guess, I'll be going home now, buchou," Akaya said as he bowed. Half an hour has past, he was talking animatedly with Yukimura, and Chiyoko was partly listening to them, and partly reading books.

"Of course," Yukimura replied, and then he jokingly added, "Should I ask Jackal to accompany you?"

"Buchou!" Akaya pouted, Yukimura chuckled, and then Akaya grumbled, "I am not a kid anymore."

"Don't say that, Akaya," Yukimura ruffled his hair, and then he said, "After all your our team's favorite kyohai."

"Am I their favorite kyohai, or am I their favorite target?" Akaya said to Yukimura, who smiled in response. And then, picking up his things, he said, "Then I'll be going now, buchou."

"It was… nice meeting you, Kirihara-san." Chiyoko spoke up, closing the book that she was reading, and said, "Take care."

"It was nice meeting you, too, Akashi." Akaya nods, and then with a characteristically shine in his eyes, "I'll visit you again, and I'm sure my other sempai-tachis would love to visit you too!"

Chiyoko nods as Yukimura closed the door as Akaya's figure faded, and Yukimura asked his cousin, "So what do you think of Akaya, Chiyoko?"

"Hm?" Chiyoko smiled, and then she laughed softly as she said, "He's cheeky and weird and awkward, but I think he's nice."

"Of course he's nice," Yukimura smiled, and said, "He's my protégé, after all."

-End Chapter-

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	3. Chapter 3

Complications

Read the A/N later on if you need some clarifications, oh and acknowledgements will be given at the end of the chapter as well.

-Start Chapter-

"Buchouuu!" Akaya latched on Yukimura as soon as he finished his laps. The serene male looked at him and just as he opened his mouth to say something, Sanada interrupted.

"Tarundoru, Akaya!" He shouted as he approached the two. Akaya, still latching on Yukimura looked at him with slightly challenging eyes, and the fukubuchou shook his head, "Mattaku, you are already a first year high school. I thought that you have gotten rid of this childish attitude when you become captain of the middle school tennis club last year!"

"Now, now, Sanada," Yukimura smiled, and then he said, "I bet that you missed this kind of Akaya yourself, didn't you?"

Sanada lowered his cap, and then Marui whistled in the background, saying, "Don't deny it, fukubuchou."

"Heh," Niou smirked, and then he adds, "After all, you probably stalked Akaya last year."

"Stalked?" Sanada glared at Niou, and disagreed, "I did no such thing. I only went to check out the form of the tennis club regularly."

"Eh, Genichirou," Yanagi joined in, "Did you not check the tennis club every single day?"

As Sanada became redder and redder with obvious embarrassment, Akaya added insult to the injury, as he asked, with puppy eyes, "You missed me, fukubuchou?"

"Ano, Akaya-," As Sanada started explaining, the other tennis regulars in the vicinity laughed, loudly. And then, Sanada shouted at Marui and Niou, "Tarundoru! Marui! Niou! 50 laps around the courts each."

"Eh?" Marui popped his gum, and then whined, "Muraaa, Sanada's bullying me."

Niou laughed at that, and Yukimura smiled amusedly, saying, "Just run your laps, ne, Bunta? Or else Sanada will just increase the number."

Marui sighed dejectedly, and then he said, "I'm running, I'm running."

Niou strolled at the bench a little more laxly, and before Sanada can open his mouth to comment, Niou said, "I'll be running my laps, I just need a small water break."

Sanada opened and closed his mouth like a goldfish, twitching and glaring pointedly at the trickster taking his sweet time drinking his water.

"Ne, Akaya," Yukimura asked, gently detaching the arms of the younger boy, "What were you going to say a while ago?"

"Hmm," Akaya paused, and then he smiled, "Ne, Mura-buchou, can I come with you the next time you visit your cousin?"

All regulars at the place looked weirdly at the youngest regular, and then Marui, who finished a lap, and listened to a little of the conversation, popped his gum as he said, "What?"

"Eh?" Yukimura looked at the youngest boy, and then saw Niou's reaction. Contrary to his natural smirk or apatheticness, he was looking at Akaya with narrowed eyes. Yukimura cleared his throat, and then asked, "Why would you want to visit her, Akaya?"

"Did you fall in love with her, eh, Akaya?" Marui commented with a grin, which turned into a blank smile as he felt Niou's glare pierced him at the side. The others looked at Akaya, after all, if he made the wrong answer, who knows what Niou will do.

"Huh, of course not, sempai." Akaya said almost immediately, with a casual shrug. The other regulars sighed, and then Akaya looked at Yukimura, explaining, "Ano, buchou, well, I thought that she would be lonely at the hospital."

As the others looked at him, he explains further, "I mean, I bet she must be feeling what buchou felt when he was at the hospital, and I think that she might be lonely, and that's… kind of sad."

"Huuh.." Marui popped his gum, and then he said, "That's actually something nice you think of."

"Akaya," Sanada ruffled Kirihara's hair, and then he almost smiled, as he said, "That's nice of you."

Yanagi smiled, and then he said, out loud, "I should document this moment for… later use."

"Hm," Niou smirked, and then he said, "You had some self-reflection lately, Aka-chan?"

Akaya narrowed his eyes to Niou, but before anyone else can give their say, Yukimura smiled, "Actually, it's a good idea that you would visit her, Akaya."

"You can visit her this weekend," Yukimura said and Akaya beamed. Yukimura chuckled, and then he said, "I need to go somewhere this week-end, and I don't think she'll have company on the morning to afternoons, so it would be a big help if you would come."

"Eh?" Akaya pouted at Yukimura, and then he whined, "But it's awkward and weird to be alone with girls, buchou. I don't think I can handle it."

"What are you saying, brat?" Niou grinned, and then added, "You're gay or something?"

"Hahaha," Marui laughed as Akaya intensified his glare to Niou, and then he patted the youngest regular at the back, saying, "I'll come with you, alright."

"So, that's it, then?" Yukimura asked, and then he clarified, "So this weekend, Bunta and Akaya will visit Chiyoko and accompany her for the whole day?"

"Muraaa," Niou drawled. Yukimura smiled slightly at him, an amused grin, and with a nudge from Yanagi and Marui, Niou sighed and then said, with a wink, "Don't forget about me."

"Eh?" Akaya looked at Niou as if he grew fie other heads, and said, "Why would you come with us, Niou-sempai?"

Marui chuckled at this, and Niou glared at him. Looking back at the younger boy, he said, "What's wrong with me coming with you?"

"Well," Akaya shrugged before he said, "I bet you would scare her, and you might prank her, and if you prank her, she might cry, and then buchou will get mad at us and punish us."

"…" Silence passed as crickets appeared and chirp. Yanagi looked at Akaya amusedly, then turned his attention to Niou. Sanada was sighing, Niou was stunned, and Yukimura smiled amusedly. Everything was silent, before Marui popped his gum and laughed loudly at this.

"Hahaha," Marui said, and then calming himself down, he patted Akaya's shoulder as he said, "Don't worry, Niou would not do such a thing."

"Oh," Akaya said with a nod of his head, and before he was to add something, another freshman, not a tennis club member, called him, "KIRIHARA-KUN!"

Niou whistled, and then he said, "Oh, so you do have a girl now, eh, Aka-chan?"

"Eh?" Akaya said and the girl who called Kirihara blushed while Marui smirked, and then Akaya shook his head as he disagreed, "She's our class representative."

"So," Akaya looked at the girl, who was still madly blushing. He asked, in a cool tone, "Why are you here?"

"U-uhh," The girl fidgeted before she said, "Our homeroom teacher is looking for you."

"Oh." Akaya nods his head, and before he ran off, he turned around and said to the regulars, "Buchou, fukubuchou, sempai-tachi, I'll be going first."

Yukimura smiled and said, "It's alright, Akaya."

"Oh," Marui said, and then he nods at the girl, "You should follow Akaya to see there's no trouble."

The girl nods and runs after Akaya as she yells, "Wait up, Kirihara-kun!"

"Kirihara-kun, eh," Niou smirked as soon as the girl was out of sight. He adds, "Never expected Akaya to be popular with the girls."

"He's a tennis club regular," Marui shrugs, "Of course he'll be popular."

"Hmm," Yanagi enters the conversation as he informs, "Akaya's popularity has considerably increased after he became the captain of the middle-school tennis club."

"Well, duh," Niou grinned, "He needed to control himself and try to at the very least live up to the legacy that Mura created for the club."

"Hahaha," Yukimura chuckled, and then he said, "That's an exaggeration."

"Not really," Marui disagreed, and then he said, "After all, Mura, you're like the tennis club legend you know, and that's not counting the Three Demon of Rikkai you three set up, the moment you joined and eventually handled the tennis club, well, I guess the standards sky-rocketed."

Yukimura gracefully shrugs as he smiled, commenting, "Oh, well. That's the legacy of the kings, after all."

"Oh," Marui piped up after a considerable silence and then said, "Akaya was funny a while ago, eh."

"Funny?" Niou said, dangerously serious, and he adds, "Really, Akaya was funny, eh, Marui?"

"Hahaha," Marui fearlessly laughs, and then he adds, "Calm down, Haru."

Niou exhaled before he rants, "So you think it's funny that Akaya might like her? And I should calm the down because she's fuc-"

"Haru." Yukimura intercepted in a cold tone, "Bunta is just worried, and so is everyone else."

Niou bit his lips, and then sighed, "Sorry, Mura."

"It's fine," Yukimura said as a sincere smile came back on his face, and then he adds, "Aren't you two going to run your laps?"

"Eh. Oh." Marui said, a little dumbfounded. He looked around a little, and then he asked, "Where's fukubuchou?"

Yanagi smiled before he informed, "He went off during the time that Akaya's class representative approached us."

Niou grinned as he said, "I knew that the guy is rock. Marui didn't even notice that he left."

"Oh well," Yukimura chuckled, before he said, in a somewhat smooth tone, "Run those laps now, Bunta, Niou, or else Sanada will slap the two of you, and I won't be lenient if I see you two slacking off."

At the end of Yukimura's statement, both guys straightened up and ran, but not before making a salute and shouting, "Y-yes, buchou!"

"Those two are so amusing," Yukimura commented as he saw the two running their laps.

"They don't fear Sanada, or anyone else for the matter, that much," Yanagi off-handedly commented, "But when it comes to you, Seiichi, they would obey with little to mostly no objections."

At that, Yukimura can only chuckle. Then, after a while, Yanagi said, "You don't actually have to go somewhere this weekend, don't you, Seiichi?"

"Do you doubt me?" Yukimura asked jokingly. He laughed at the slight surprise and fear that appeared at Yanagi's face before he adds, "I actually do have somewhere to go to this weekend."

Yanagi remained silent, but raised a brow at this. Yukimura noticed and then he sighed, explaining, "Well, there was an appointment which I temporarily placed on hold because there's no one to take care of Chiyoko, but then Akaya decided to volunteer, so I guess I can attend the appointment."

"But Niou and Marui will accompany Akaya," Yanagi mused out, "That's an interesting turn of events."

Yukimura smiled and then he agreed, "Indeed."

"Seiichi," Yanagi cleared his throat, and trying not to piss Yukimura off, he safely asked, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"What?" Yukimura answered immediately and smiled knowingly at Yanagi, and the latter slightly trembled out of fear.

Seeing Yukimura's expecting face, Yanagi sighed, this is a losing battle, and then he said, "You're thinking about bringing back Chiyoko's memories."

"…"

"It's for the best."

-Next scene-

"So," Marui started, as the two troublemakers laxly ran their laps, because they were far from their buchou, and then continues, "What's with that outburst you had earlier, huh, Niou?"

"Well," Niou shrugs, "I don't know."

Marui looked at him incredulously, and Niou looked back, sighing, "Geez, Bunbun, I don't know what happened either."

"You don't… hmm." Marui kept quiet, musing to himself for a while, before he said out loud, "It must be jealousy, or maybe you're still you know…"

Niou looked at him skeptically with raise brows and Marui replied by shrugging. Then Niou smirked, as he said, "I don't know."

"Geez," Marui shook his head, "You're so stubborn, I bet you're even more stubborn than Yagyuu."

Niou gave him a blank face, and then he smirked, "Puri."

-Next scene-

"Kirihara-kun," the class representative called out as Kirihara ran out of the tennis courts, and she shouted, "Wait up."

"Honestly," Akaya sighs, and then he stops and turns to the girl, "All you've been doing is yell Kirihara-kun, Kirihara-kun, class rep."

The girl flipped her long and shiny black hair as she pouted, "Mou, I have a name, Kirihara-kun."

"So?" Akaya raised his brow. This was the reason why Akaya did not like majority of the girls, they always pouted and make problems out of everything.

Feisty and tomboyish girls like An were fine, at the very least they can handle themselves and it would probably against their pride to pout and whine like other girls do. Delicate and dainty girls like Chiyoko and that Seigaku girl Ryuzaki are fine, too, well as long as they try their hardest and as long as they aren't faking it. Chiyoko is a different kind of delicate from Ryuzaki, while the former is only kind-of delicate, it must be because of her physical state, but Ryuzaki has been delicate for a long while now.

There are also the bookish nerdy ones, the kinds that doesn't associate much with Akaya since they are not too keen on sports, not that Akaya minded, as long as there are no interruptions within personal boundaries, then all is well. There's also the competitive and sporty girls, which are good. Atleast they're fit, and they know the essence of competition and hard work, but sometimes, this kind of girls are a little too competitive and over the top.

However, the girls like the class representative were a little annoying. Sure, they may be pretty, Akaya recognizes beauty, but they always pout and whine, and try to make awkward conversations, plus they also have little sense of humor. And they think that every boy must like them, Akaya grimaces at this, after all he experienced this before. First came the blushing, if you overlook it, they'll pout, and then for longer periods of time, they whine.

Atleast boyish girls or delicate girls don't whine, or pout, or maybe they do that, but it's so rare it's kind of a surprise when they do that, and most of the time it's the good kind of surprise.

"Hey!" The class representative shouted in Akaya's ears and Akaya stopped in his trail of thoughts to look at the girl. She sighed, and then with a little pout, she adds, "Look here, I'm not just class rep, okay? I have a name and it's Ono Haru."

Akaya was going to tell her off, but then relented, and so he just sighed and casually said, "Sure, sure."

Before Haru can add anything, Akaya walked off, and with a wave, he coldly stated, "We need to get going, Ono-san. The teacher is probably waiting for us."

-Next scene-

"_Hey." A fuzzy image of a boy held out his hand to Chiyoko, smiling a little._

_Chiyoko nervously fidgeted, and then said, "Are you sure this is safe?"_

"_Hahaha," Another boy, a red head, though other details were fuzzy, laughed and incredulously asked, "You're seriously doubting him?"_

"_It's not that," Chiyoko answered, shaking her head, and then explained, "I just want to make sure."_

"_Of course you do," The first boy repeated, and then he poked the redhead as he said, "Stop bullying her, fatty."_

"_I'm not bullying, Chiyoko," The red head replied, sticking out his tongue, and then he adds, "If anything, you're probably the one who's bullying her."_

"_Geez," the first boy shook his head, and then he smirked as he said to Chiyoko, "So, are we going or not?"_

"_Hmm," Chiyoko paused for a while to contemplate, and then she looked up at the two as she said, "We're going, but we should be back by about 6 in the evening."_

_The redhead shifted as he reacted, "eh?"_

"_Honestly," the first boy smirked, and then he inquired, "Do you have curfew? Cinderella's curfew is more lenient than yours."_

"_That's not it," Chiyoko immediately answered, "I'm meeting up with him to pick out his cake. You guys don't want us to spoil the surprise now, don't you?"_

_Both boys shook their head, and the first boy said, "Of course not."_

"_Oh, I remembered," The redhead looked at the first boy, and then reminded, "We should pick him up later on, too, so six is fine."_

_The first boy tilted his head with a nod as he asked, "You mean-"_

Chiyoko's dreams were cut off as soon as she heard the nurse enter the room to say, "The dinner will be given out in ten minutes, is there anything in particular that you might want to eat, dear?"

"Oh," Chiyoko straightened herself a little at her bed as she replied, "Anything is fine."

"I see," the nurse smiled warmly at her, and then she adds, "I'll be giving you your daily dessert as well. Chocolate or Mocha?"

Chiyoko paused for a bit, before she replied, "Mocha, please."

"Okay," the nurse said, and before she exits the room she replied, "I'll be back later, Akashi-sama."

Chiyoko nods at the figure of the nurse, and then sighed to herself. Somehow, the dreams were kind of real, and she heard that there was probable chance that she might have amnesia… so does this mean that the dreams were actually memories? But then-Chiyoko sighed. There was nothing to do about it, after all, if memories are forgotten, maybe that's for the best, and unless she remembers it without forcing herself, maybe it's fate.

-End Chapter-

A/N: First of all, only the italicized parts are dreams, okay? Haha, I mean you might mistake that the entire chapter was a dream but noo- for those who are confused, only the italicized part is the dream. The other scenes are well real-life events. Besides that little clarification, I would like to thank everyone for their continuous support and for reading this fic :DD

Thanks and acknowledgements:

xxreading-addictxx: yep, I updated. :" And I updated again, oh, and thanks for reviewing and favoriting this story :D

Alylyly: Yep, I updated again, too :" Thanks for reviewing :D

heyit'salex: Hey, I updated :" And thanks for following the story :"" *hugs*

Rikkailovur: Thanks for following the story )

drawingpancakes: Thanks for the follow :DD

KisunaFuji: Thanks for favoriting the story )

shinigamigymnast13: Thanks for the favorite :")

And thanks to all the readers for supporting the story, I'm giving you virtual cookies :"D


	4. Chapter 4

Complications

-Start Chapter-

Niou's phone was ringing, said person was lounging in the chair, and reluctantly picking up after a few minutes, he cursed as he noticed that it was Yukimura who was calling him. He immediately answered the call and said, "Mura?"

There was pause on the other line, and Niou could imagine that smile of Yukimura as he heard the latter say, "It is very amusing that you took your time to answer my call, Haru."

Niou shivered, and he felt the temperature in his room dropped significantly, before his brain can make some sort of excuse, to ease Yukimura's wrath, the younger boy chuckled, and said, "Just joking."

"Really, Mura," Niou said in short breaths, he paused and then he added, "That was mean."

"Is it?" Niou can imagine the innocent expression on Yukimura's face, and then Yukimura added, in a more serious context, "So, you're visiting Chiyoko, hmm?"

"…" Niou kept silent, before he said, "It was because Marui was insisting, you know."

"Really," Yukimura said in a monotone, and then he adds, "Anyway, Haru, I just called to inform you that you shouldn't bring chocolates for your visit."

Niou widened his eyes, he did prepare something, but it wasn't some form of chocolate thank-goodness, but then he replied to Yukimura's suggestion, asking, "It's not like I'm bringing her something."

"It's not a good idea to lie," Yukimura answered, the serenity in his voice ever-present, and before Niou can disagree in any way or form, Yukimura stated, "I know you, Haru."

Niou sighed, he can't disagree on that, after all this was Yukimura, his buchou for many years, and he probably knew more things about Niou than he knew about himself, and that was saying a lot. He casually drawled, "Is that all, Mura?"

"Hmm, not quite," Yukimura mused, and then he added, "Follow your heart."

"Eh.?" Niou answered, noisily blanching at the instruction given.

"Hahaha," Yukimura chuckled from the other line, and then he said, "Just take care of things, then. I'll be seeing you on Monday, assuming that you don't make a visit on Sunday, that is."

"I won't!" Niou stubbornly protested, and the last thing he heard before the call was cut off was Yukimura's laugh.

"Really, Yukimura," Niou said, and then he adds, "How can you still let me…"

The silence envelops as Niou pauses, and he stood up, he's just gonna prank his sister to keep his mood up.

-Next scene-

"Jackaaaal," Marui tearfully exclaimed, "You know I really love you, right?"

"Geez," Jackal shook his head, "Are you professing your love for me or for that cake that I bought for tonight's sleepover?"

"Hehe," Marui grinned as he looked up from the cake, and then he explains, "The cake, of course."

Jackal sighed, and mused out, "As I thought."

"But don't worry, Jackal~" Marui winked at him, and then he adds, "I love you too, partially in connection of the unanimated cake that you give me."

Jackal's jaw dropped, and then Marui grinned again as he made a V-pose, "Aren't I a genius?"

"…" Jackal's brain melted, then after a few minutes, he gave a weary sigh as he commented, "I guess you are kind of complicated."

Marui nods and he took it as a good sign, and then he nods his head as he wolf down the cake. Jackal's brain melted for the second time of the night, and, unfortunately for him, it only worked again when Marui finished the whole cake off.

"Heh," Marui said with a smile, and despite Jackal's grief over the eaten cake that he had not took even a single bite, he exclaimed, "It was really yummy, all for a good cause, though."

"A good cause..?" Jackal repeated, but then he shook his bald head again, this was Marui and there's no way that he can win an argument over the stubborn genius when it comes to sweets, so he just steered the conversation to a new topic, as he said, "You're going to Akashi-san's tomorrow, eh?"

"Chiyoko..?" Marui asks, then when he receives a nod, he answers, "Yep. I'm going with Akaya and Niou."

"Akaya…and Niou?" Jackal asked as he looked at Marui with a weird expression on his face, and then he added, "With Akashi? Isn't that going to be… messy?"

"Not really, Haru probably won't make a move, unfortunately for me and everyone else but Akaya," Marui said with a dry laugh, and then he winked as he added, "And if things get out of hand, well, that's what I am for."

"Haha," Jackal shook his head, and then complimented, "You really are a genius."

Marui grinned, and then he said, "Of course I am. Didn't you see enough of my genius skills?"

Jackal gaped, and he can only mutter, "Honestly, you're one arrogant person."

"Eh," Marui tilted his head, and then he winked, "It's not my problem I'm a genius."

"But," Jackal asked, "How about Arashi-san, I mean buchou's sister?"

"Her?" Marui narrowed his eyes, a complete difference from his cheerful vibe, as he advised, "Don't talk about her. Not with me, at the very least."

-Next scene-

"Etoo," Chiyoko opened her phone, after draining its battery the day before yesterday she only just recently charged it back to its original state. She sighed as she saw the unread messages, there were about 40, and that was only a single day of not playing with her phone, she muttered, "As expected."

As usual, most of the text messages were from Midori Middle School, and seeing that she used to be a class representative, she's not bragging, but she has to be one of the most popular students in the school, not to mention that she used to be the internal executive of their student council.

She wasn't really happy with the stay at the hospital, but what can she do? It was her fate, and at least there was the fact that she woke up despite being in the state of comatose of what, five or six months?

Akashi Seijuro was the most important thing to Chiyoko, and he was more or less the reason why the said girl decided to live on the first place. Even though he was not in the country for the time being, her brother was there when she first woke up, and was able to make her feel that she had a life worth living. He left after a week, but the boy never failed to email or text her every day.

Yukimura Seiichi, her older cousin was a huge factor, too. When Seijuro-niisama left, it was Seiichi-niisan who took care of Chiyoko, and the girl was grateful for the older boy. Sei-niisan was always kind, always serene, and while it was obvious that the most important person in Chiyoko's life was her elder brother, her elder cousin was also an important person, and Chiyoko has noticed that they have a lot in common.

There were also frequent visits of other people, too. Most often than ever, it was Yukimura's regulars that visited her. She was close with Marui, but the others were nice, too, a little on the crazy side, but they were nice.

She also had some friends from Midori who visited her weekly, and communicated with her through phone. Oh, there were also girls from Seigaku that she managed to become friends with, who were nice and visited her at times.

Chiyoko knew that she had to be content with everything, after all, at the very least, she is still alive. But somehow, she wanted to regain her memories. It was selective amnesia, that was what she heard, and despite the comfort of her parents that it was lucky she didn't forget everything, somehow, she just wishes that she knew what she was supposed to know.

_But miracles don't happen, and you're not a little girl wishing for the impossible now, aren't you?_

Chiyoko gasped softly. This was the cynical voice in her head that she heard ever since she woke up. It was comforting, but it was protective most of the times, and if Chiyoko has less discipline on herself, she probably would have let this cynic around, and well, who knows what havoc would happen?

Before she can completely contemplate on things, she heard her phone ring, and as she opens her mouth to speak, she said, "Hello?"

"Hello there," A sweet voice purred from the phone, and Chiyoko tried to compose herself despite the warnings going off her head, and the cynical voice going overload. The girl from the other line then added, "Did you miss me?"

"I'm sorry," Chiyoko gave out a dry laugh, and with an amused smile on her face, she politely asks, "but who are you?"

There was silence on the other line, before the other girl's voice responded with a much higher tone, "I hate it when you do that."

"Excuse me?" Chiyoko immediately asked, forcing a polite tone, despite getting a little less calm, after all, what's the deal with this woman? And then she asked, in a more cold tone, similar to one effeminate buchou, "Do you have any problem with me?"

"That!" The voice in the other line immediately shouted, and then she added, "You act so much like him! So, he likes you better, eh? So everyone likes you better, huh?"

"You took my brother from me, you made him like you better than he could ever like me!" The other girl continued to rant, "And worst of all, you took Haru from me!"

"Eh?" Chiyoko had the decency to be surprised, and then she asked, "Who is this Haru..?"

"Oh, hahaha!" The other girl laughed out, and then she sneered, "So it wasn't just me you forgot, eh? So you forgot dear Haru, too?"

Chiyoko restrained herself, as she asked, "What are you getting at?"

"Oh well, you act so much like my _onii-san._" She said with a sickly, sweet tone, and then she sneers, "Well look at what good it has done to you! Now I bet that you hated being stuck in a stupid hospital, just like he did! Hospitalized, how useless."

"Stop." Chiyoko said with an uncharacteristic dangerous edge on her voice, before the other can react, she cut off the call.

What was the problem with the girl? Her brother? Her dear Haru? What happened, and how can Chiyoko forgot about it? And they said that her selective amnesia was no big deal, what's with the girl, though..?

"Huh," she shrugs.

It was useless to dwell on it, and besides, Chiyoko knew better than to get mad and fight with her, that's too shallow. She paused to see if some memories were going to return, maybe as an aftershock of the overwhelming phone conversation, but she got nothing.

"Oh well," She shrugs again, and then she reached out for a bar of chocolates on her handstand and continued to eat it mindlessly.

-Next scene-

"Ne, neechan," Akaya casually started as he strolled in their living room to find his older sister lounging in the comforts of the sofa.

"Hmm?" Akaya's older sister gave her a sideway glance before she directs her attention back to the television show that she's watching. At the signal of a commercial, she said, "Is there any problem, baby Akaya?"

"Mmm…" Akaya bit his lips in slight tense silence, placing and arranging his thoughts. He never gave his sister a reply, though, instead, he was deeply concentrating on what he would say.

Akaya's sister gave a small giggle at Akaya's concentration, and breaking the younger boy's reverie, she asked, "So, what, are you here to talk about your girl problems, hmm?"

"What?" Akaya immediately countered back, and then he quickly retorted, "I do not have girl problems!"

"Geez, as if," Akaya's sister muttered, and then she asked, "What is it, then?"

"Eto," Akaya opened his mouth, then closed it, then opened it again, resembling some form of goldfish like actions.

"Akaya," His sister called out as she switched the channels, and then she asked, slowly and carefully, "Is this about An-chan?"

At this statement, Akaya snapped out of his actions as he repeated, "An..?"

His older sister looked at him inquiringly, and then Akaya continued to ask, "What are you talking about, nee-san?"

"Oh," Akaya's sister stared at him for a while, before she whispers with a sigh, "Poor An-chan, Akaya is so dense."

Akaya's brow rose at that and then he asked, "What are you talking about, Risette-neechan?"

"I like it when you call me that, babe~" Risette offhandedly commented as she gave a wink at the gaping Akaya. After having a round of giggles, cue weird looks from Akaya, she asked, "So, what is it, then..?"

Raising her fine brows at her younger brother, she said, patting the chair, "Sit down, while you're at it."

"Sure," Akaya nods his head as he sat at the couch. After a while, he said, "So, onee-chan, ano, what would you feel if you get confined in a hospital for a very looong time?"

"Very looong time..?" Risette repeated with a small smirk, giggling a little. After that though, she looked at Akaya a little more seriously as she asked, "Is it about Yukimura-kun, eh?"

"Erm," Akaya shook his head to negate immediately as he replied, "It's not about Mura-buchou."

"Oh," Risette nodded in understanding, before she went and asked, "So who is it about, then?"

Akaya did the goldfish imitation for a while, before he said, "Buchou's cousin."

"Oh," Risette mused out loud. After a minute, she looked at Akaya, with raised brows, as she asked, "Is it a… she?"

"…" Akaya momentarily lost his vocal chords as he looked at his sister with slight bulging eyes. Looking down-right weirded out by the expression on his sister's face, he asked, "You look weird."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Risette said with a chuckle, and then she said, "But, is it a girl?"

Akaya folded his arms as he asked, "Is that really a necessary question, eh, nee-chan?"

"Yep." Risette said, popping her lips.

"Well," Akaya sighed, and then he said, "She is a girl."

"Oh~" Risette said in a sly tone, and Akaya felt shivers on his spine, and then she asked, "Do you like her, Aka-chan?"

"Don't call me Aka-chan," Akaya immediately said with a little pout. He paused, and then he answered her question, saying, "And, yes, I like her."

Risette gave a predatory smile, and Akaya instantly wave his arms, out of pure instinct, as he said, "Not that way, though."

When his sister gave her a look of doubt, Akaya sighed as he explained, "I don't hate her, but I don't like, like, her, okay? She's buchou's cousin, and we're not really too close."

"Not too close, eh?" Risette gave a small laugh, and then she added, "But you still visit her in the hospital?"

"It's not like that," Akaya narrowed his green orbs, and then he added, "It's well, it's sad to be cooped up in a hospital, right? I'm sure that buchou felt that way before, and to see someone close to buchou feeling that way, it's just… wrong."

"Sorry for teasing you," Risette said as she ruffled the younger boy's hair, but then she adds, "I guess it must be a pretty bad feeling to be cooped up in a place for a long time, isn't it?"

At Akaya's nod, Risette resisted the urge to glomp the young boy as she adds, "So, when are you going to visit the young girl?"

Akaya paused before he answered, "Tomorrow."

Risette played with her hair as she asked, "By yourself?"

"Ugh," Akaya rolled his green eyes, to his sister's amusement, as he answered, "with my sempai-tachis."

"Oh," Risette nods in understanding, and then she continued to ask, "Did you prepare your gift?"

Akaya looked at her with a slight confused expression, "Gift?"

"Ugh, boys, honestly," Risette grumbled with a pointed stare at the innocent-looking Akaya, before she said, "It's only manners to give gifts to people in the hospital when you come to visit."

When she didn't receive any form of reaction from Akaya, she continued to prod, "Didn't you give Yukimura-kun gifts before?"

"Eh," Akaya shook his head and gave a sheepish smile as he answered, "But he's buchou, so I thought that, um, it's only respectful to give him something."

"It is respectful to give gifts on a visit," Risette answered, and then she adds, "But you shouldn't limit it to your buchou, you know?"

"Eh..?" Akaya repeated his long-overdue reaction.

"Honestly," Risette sighed, and then she looked at Akaya with mixed emotions as she said, "I'll prepare some gifts that you'll need to bring tomorrow, then."

Akaya looked at her gratefully, as he asked, "Really?"

"Yes, really," Risette smiled at the pure expression that Akaya gave her, and then she ruffled his hair.

Akaya smiled back, and then he said, "Thank you, Risette-neechan!"

She smiled once more as she ruffled the seaweed head, and she stood up. Before she completely left the room, she said, "Get the gift from me first thing tomorrow, will you? And you better sleep early on."

Akaya nod at the instructions, and then he head off to his own room, happy to have talked with his sister, despite the fact that the older girl was being weird at times.

-End Chapter-

A/N: Did you notice the cameos here? Hahaha. I figured it would make things interesting. So, if you didn't notice, the Akashi Seijuro, which is Chiyoko's brother, is the Akashi from Kuroko no Basuke, and the Risette, sister of Akaya, is the Risette from Persona 4.

I'll probably make unnamed characters, like their family, some cameos.

And, as usual, thanks everyone for reading the story :**

Side note, though, is it me or are there less people here in the POT fandom..? Oh well, I'll still try my best to finish this story, since I love POT so much :"


	5. Chapter 5

Complications

-Start Chapter-

Marui shouted as he opened the door to the hospital room wide open, and then he shouted, "Goodmorning, Chiyoko!"

"Marui-san!" Chiyoko looked at him with a wide smile, and then her gaze fell on the other figure on the door, who was shuffling and then she said, "Um.."

"Geez, Chiyoko," Marui entered, hopping like a hyperactive bunny, and then he gently ruffled the girl's hair, and then he adds, "He won't eat you, you know."

Chiyoko made the perfect imitation of a goldfish before she exclaimed, "Yes?"

"Uggh," Marui sat by her side, and gently said, "You're so stubborn."

"Stubborn as a mule, honestly," Niou went in himself, and he chirped, "Forgot about me already, Chiyoko?"

"Hahaha," Chiyoko grinned as she said, "Of course not, Niou-san."

Her gaze fell on the roses on Niou's hand, and she said, "Eh, Niou-san, why do you have flowers on your hand?"

"…Hm.?" Marui looked as well, and a large grin formed on his face as he muttered, "Roses, eh, Haru?"

This caught the attention of the other two on the room and Marui cleared his throat, and he said, with a lopsided grin, "Roses for your lover?"

"…" Niou gave Marui a playful glare, but then he smirked as he handed it to Chiyoko, stating, "It's for you, Chiyoko."

Marui managed to give out a little low whistle, but before he can further comment, Niou said, "It's the last kind of flower in the shop, I heard that someone pranked the store owner one way or another and everything became roses-literally."

"Someone?" Marui looked at Niou with disbelief, but the latter looked and only gave a casual shrug in reply.

"I'm not sure about the store owner," Chiyoko stated, catching both guys attention, and she added, "But I' m happy that everything became roses."

When Niou looked at her with slight emotion, and Marui gave another wide grin, Chiyoko exclaimed, "These roses are beautiful!"

Niou shrugged as he sat down on a chair, and then he said, "What did you bring then, Marui?"

"Me..?" Marui made a face, and then he tilted his face, "Should I bring something..?"

As Niou rolled his eyes, Chiyoko giggled behind his hands. The trickster smirked as he asked, "So you're going to eat this large cake by yourself then?"

Marui gaped as he saw his hidden treat magically appear in Niou's hand, and then Niou teased, "That's the reason why you're so fat."

"I am NOT fat!" Marui retorted as he grabbed the cake from Niou's hands, and then he sighed, and said, "I was going to share this with Chiyoko, you know."

"Me?" Chiyoko tilted her head to the side.

"Yep, or else Akashi might kill me." Marui nodded with a pop of his gum, and as Chiyoko's smile turned a little downwards, Marui waved his hands as he said, "Just kidding!"

"Honestly," Niou muttered under his breath, "Why is Chiyoko so Mura-ish?"

"Ne," Chiyoko waved her hand as she asked, "What flavor is this, ne, Marui-san?"

Marui smiled as he answered, "It's a huge strawberry ice cream cake!"

"Strawberry?" Chiyoko asked with a gleam on her eyes, and then she asked again, "Ice cream?"

"Strawberry ice cream cake," Marui nodded his head with a smile.

"I love that perfect combination." Chiyoko exclaimed with a smile on her face, she tilted her head and then she asked, "How'd you know?"

"Well," Marui shrugged as he winked, "I'm a genius."

Before Chiyoko can further comment, Niou smirked as he said, "Falling in love with our fattie now, are you, Chiyoko?"

Marui paled as he saw Niou narrowed his eyes ever so slightly, and Chiyoko giggled as she shook her head, "That's incest!"

Both guys were shocked at the younger girl's slightly mature vocabulary, and as soon as Niou recovered he asked, trying to suppress a laugh, "Where did you learn that from?"

"Ermm," Chiyoko bit her lip, and she paused before her eyes went wide as she said, "I… can't remember."

-Past start-

"_You aren't involved with Yukimura aren't you, Chiyoko?" A blurry figure smirked as he asked._

"_What the hell.!" The other figure nearly shrieked as he asked, "What kind of question is that?"_

_As the first figure continued to smirk, Chiyoko tilted her head as she asked, "Involved..?"_

"_You know," the figure laughed, "That way."_

"_Umm," Chiyoko bit her lips as her eyes widened in late realization and then she said, waving her eyes frantically, "N-no we're not!"_

"_Of course," The second figure nodded and then he ruffled her hair as he commented, "Chiyoko would never commit incest."_

"_Incest?" Chiyoko asked, and the first figure laughed as the second figure gaped in shock as Chiyoko asked, "What's incest?"_

_The first figure sneered at the second figure, "Idiot."_

"_I-it's nothing a child should know!" The second figure immediately answered, waving his hand. As Chiyoko semi-glared at him, the second figure sighed defeatedly as he said, "I'll explain, then."_

_As Chiyoko beamed, the second figure immediately added, "Just promise not to tell Mura that I was the one who explained it, okay?"_

_Chiyoko smiled but she answered back, "Sure."_

-Past End-

"Actually," Chiyoko bit her lips, Niou narrowed his eyes as he repeated, "Actually?"

"Mmm," Chiyoko shook her head, and then she smiled, albeit a little comfortably, and then she said, "It's nothing."

"Are you sure..?" Marui asked with slight worry.

"…" Chiyoko kept silent before she looked them into the eye and answered, "I'm sure that it's nothing."

"Haru," Marui hoarsely whispered on the trickster's ears, "I wasn't the one who introduced that word to her… wasn't I…?"

"Fattie," Niou whispered back, and then he answered, "You ARE the one who introduced the girl to the word incest."

As the realization appeared on the older regular's face, he said, "Did she, somehow, remembered some of her lost memories."

"I'm not some doctor," Niou drawled, and added, "but I know so. She kind of blanked out."

"Then-"

"Bunta," Niou said, "If she can't remember us in particular then that's it. There's no need to force her."

Marui sighed as he said, "Fine."

"Ne," Marui looked at the silent, slightly shaken girl, as he asked, "Are you hungry?"

"Um, not really," Chiyoko said as she gave a slight wave. She narrowed her eyes ever so slightly as she asked, "Isn't there someone missing?"

As the other two looked at her questioningly, she asked, "I mean, Sei-nii told me that Kirihara-san's going to visit."

"Oh," Marui nodded in understanding, and then he adds, "Aka-chan's running late. I heard he's running some errand for his sister."

Niou raised his eyebrow as he asked, "Risette?"

"Yep," Marui nods and then as soon as he saw the slight crestfallen look on the girl's face, he smiled as he adds, "He'll arrive, though, soon."

As Chiyoko looked back, lightening up a little, loud, continuous knocks on the door was heard. Niou smirked as he said, "Speaking of the little devil."

The door opened and introduced the half-sweating, half-panting seaweed brat, and then he shouted, more like shrieked, "I'm sorry I'm late!"

"What happened?" Marui asked as he poked the younger boy who flopped down in the couch.

"Nothing," Akaya shook his head, and then he took out something from a paper bag he was carrying and then he approached the younger girl and then gave her the item, "Here."

"This is…?" Chiyoko asked as her gaze went from Akaya to the item.

"It's a gift," Akaya said with a grin, and then he said, "It's only polite, ne?"

"Aka-chaan!" Marui glomped Akaya, and then he whispered, "When did you grow up to be a fine young man?"

"Erk, you're heavy, Bunta-sempai," Akaya commented, and then he offhandedly answered, "It was Risette-neechan who told me."

"Oh." Marui nodded, but did not pull away.

"Sempaaai," Akaya drawled and he pulled away, "You're heavy!"

"Haha," Niou smirked, and then he said, "He got you good there, fattie."

Marui narrowed his eyes as he said, "I am NOT fat."

"Oh yes, you are." Niou pulled a Cheshire grin and then he said, "Even Akaya agrees."

Before Akaya can protest or Marui turn dangerous, Chiyoko laughed, and then she said, "You guys are funny."

"Heh," Marui immediately softened as he smiled at the younger girl, "We are, aren't we?"

At the girl's nod, Niou muttered, "That wasn't a compliment, idiot."

"Ne, Niou-sempai," Akaya whispered, and after a pause, he asked, "Why are you meaner than usual?"

Marui burst out laughing, cue glare from Niou, and then he repeated the question, "I wonder why, too, Haru?"

Niou's eyes hardened and then he was about to say something before Chiyoko interrupted and ask, "…Is it troublesome for you to visit me..?"

All three young boys looked at the girl. Akaya looked somewhere between sadness and fear, he somehow felt cold seeing the frown on the girl's face, Marui popped his gum, nervous but excited to see the next event, and Niou just stand there, with his best poker face on, before he looked at the girl with slight daze.

"It's not like that." Niou said with an unknown tone in his voice. He drew nearer to the young girl, and then as he ruffled her hair, he said, "It's never troublesome to visit you."

"Ano, Marui-sempai," Akaya gulped as he whispered softly in Marui's ears, "Is Niou-sempai on crack today? Or is he sick? He's too nice…"

Niou heard it but did not comment though he temporarily glared at the younger boy, and a smile formed on Marui's lips as he whispered back, "I'm not sure myself. But atleast he isn't pranking you, right?"

"Eh," Akaya looked slightly confused and cautious, "Is this a prank..?"

Marui gave a shrug as he took out and chew another gum, and he turned his gaze at his best friend who was in a slight complicated condition.

"Idiot," Niou sneered and then he ruffled the seaweed's hair, "If I was pranking you, I bet you wouldn't have enough time to gape and stand like a goldfish like that."

"Hahaha!" Marui laughed as he looked at Akaya gaping, and Chiyoko giggled at the weird expression on Akaya's face.

"So," Chiyoko smiled, and then she turned her gaze at the unopened box before she looked at Akaya, "What is this, Kirihara-san?"

"Heh!" Kirihara grinned, and then he chirped, "Open it!"

"Ne, Aka-chaan," Marui smiled at the younger boy as he whispered as he said, "What is in the box, anyway?"

"Heh, it's a secret, " Akaya still grinned and then he gave the same V-pose as he acted like Marui and said, "Dou, aren't I'm a genius?"

"…" Marui's eye twitched as he said, "That's only irritating."

"Sorry, sorry," Akaya scratched his head as he gave a slightly sheepish smile, "But it's a secret."

"Uggh," Marui pouted, and then he looked at Niou with a slight pleading look, "Do you have any idea what it is, eh, Niou?"

"Hmm?" Niou's gaze turned from the box to Marui, and then he smirked, "Figure it out for yourself, aren't you a genius?"

"Haruu," Marui drawled as he continued to pout, "I can sense the sarcasm in your voice."

"Heh." Niou shrugged as he said, in a feminine voice, "It's a secret~"

Marui looked from the grinning Akaya to the mocking Niou and he twitched, "You two are annoying."

"Geez, Bunbun," Niou swung his hand in Marui's shoulder as he poked the redhead's cheeks and said, "Relax."

When Marui looked slightly taken aback, Niou whispered in a low voice, "Besides, it's better if we have excitement because of the gift."

"Haha," Marui grinned and then he said, "I never expected you to be that soft, Haru."

Akaya shivered and unconsciously moved meters away from the trickster as he said, "Niou-sempai's getting too out of character, it's scary."

Marui laughed, Chiyoko giggled, and Niou's eyebrow twitched as he said, "What is it again, brat?"

"N-nothing," Akaya waved his hands frantically as he said, "I didn't say anything about you being scary, I really didn't!"

Chiyoko gave a slight smile as he sweatdropped and then Marui, who also sweatdropped, commented out loud, "I have no idea if he's trying to aggravate you, Niou, or he's just plain idiotic."

"Geez," Niou flicked Akaya's head, who immediately gave a tearful pout, and then he said, "Aka-chan was never graceful especially when he's under pressure."

"Ugh," Marui blanched, "When was he ever graceful?"

Niou gave him a blank look, and then Marui answered he's rhetorical question by himself, "Oh, right. He's graceful when he was on captain duties before, and when he's doing things for Mura."

"Thank you very much, sempai-tachis," Akaya pouted, and then he continued, "Please, continue talking as if I'm not here."

A silence passed and Marui whispered to Niou, out loud, "Aka-chan's all grew up."

"Yeah, right," Niou's voiced was laced with sarcasm as he said, "Say that when you see that he still talks to his teddy bears."

Another silence passed, and three out of the four people in the room sweatdropped, one of them blushing madly. Marui cleared his throat and asked, "That's certainly… possible. But, how did you knew about it , ne, Niou?"

As Niou opened his mouth to speak, Marui waved his hands as he said, "On a second thought, don't answer!"

Niou rolled his eyes, and Chiyoko gave an amused smile as she commented, "Kirihara-san is surely.."

Before she can even finish, Akaya interrupted as he beamed, saying, "Genius?"

"Ugh," Marui blanched before Chiyoko can even answer, and then he said, "Stop describing yourselves as genius. I'm the one and only genius, okay?"

"Bleeh," Akaya childishly stucked his tongue out, and then he said, "As if, sempai."

"Brat," Marui twitched as he said, "You're too young to act brave around me."

"As if," Akaya crossed his arms, and then he exclaimed, "During our middle school, the only thing you did was blow bubbles, boss around Jackal-sempai, and helped Niou-sempai with his pranks!"

"Uh-huh," Marui nodded, but then he said, "But I was never caught even if I helped Haru with his pranks, right? And I was never reprimanded by any teacher, no matter, even if I ask Jackal to do a lot of things or even if I eat a during their class."

When Akaya made the goldfish action, Marui added, "Unlike you, Aka-chan."

Akaya tried to protest, "That's-"

Marui interrupted as he gave out more information, "Unlike me, or even Haru, you, Aka-chan, gets caught easily. Whenever you force someone to do something for you, it's only successful half of the time, more or less the person you force cracks under pressure and tries to report you to a teacher."

When Akaya gape, Marui grinned as he continued to add another information, "And then when YOU try to help with the prank, you don't get out unscathed, unlike me, or Haru. You get caught, and if we aren't the nice sempai-tachis we are, there wouldn't be someone to bail you or someone to give you at the very least a decent escape from the teacher's wrath."

Akaya's eyes bulged, and at this point Chiyoko looked somewhat aghast and Niou gave a sadistic smile, and Marui decided to ignore the reactions as he continued, "And you can't even get away with eating in class. You're a regular for kami-sama's sake! If you can give at the very least, a barely decent excuse like you didn't eat breakfast that's why you need to eat because you were tired from the early tennis practice, then the teacher with eat it up with no protest. But no-o, you give out-of-this world excuses like my dog ate my breakfast so I need to eat up to make up for it."

Akaya got stone-eyed by the end of Marui's statement, but the bubble-gum eating genius continued to add salt to the wound as he added, "You can't even get the teachers at the palm of your hand with even the most minor of flatteries, instead, you piss them off with your attitude, saying things like, to hell with this, to hell with that, I'm number one!"

By the end of Marui's long speech, Akaya was nearly close to tears, and Niou, despite amusement of seeing Marui go into the rare genius mode, sighed as he tapped Marui to say, "You're making our baby cry, Bunta."

"Uh," Marui snapped out as he saw the tears leaking out of the brat's eyes, and then he sighed as he said, "That wasn't intentional. Sorry, Aka-chan."

When Akaya refused to give a reply, Marui sighed, and then he ruffled the younger boy's hair as he said, "Besides, you might be like that, but you have your good points too."

When the sparkles that were normally present in Akaya's eyes were still suppressed, Marui grinned as he started, "You're arrogant, but nevertheless you have the skills to stand up for it. You don't need to go with manipulation because you can straight-forwardly do things your way, and you can walk your talk."

When he noticed the slight shimmer in Akaya's eyes, Marui gave a smile as he continued, "Even if you're stubborn, it's a good thing, because you never give up on anything. If you can't have it now, you always try to do things better next time so that you can achieve your goals. You're violentic, but you're also fiercely loyal to everyone, and despite the rumors that goes around at times, you never let it go to your head, but instead, use it to get even stronger."

Marui chuckled as he saw the smile on the younger boy's lips, and then he continued it again, "You're more hyper than someone on ecstacy, but nevertheless, you're the ray and beam of energy for the team. You're innocent and the most pure amongst everyone, and even though ignorance is sometimes a bad thing, it's nice to see someone like you. You cry, you go mad, and you do things that are clearly insane, but despite everything, you're you."

Marui ended, as he said, "You're our dear Aka-chan, our most favorite kouhai, and despite all your negatives, we won't ever want to replace you."

"Sempaaii," Akaya cried out and then he hugged Marui, "You're the best!"

"Hahaha," Marui chuckled as he ruffled the young boy's hair, "Calm down, Akaya."

"You two," Niou hid his smile into a smirk as he said, "Stop showing BL to our precious Chiyoko."

Marui immediately pulled off Akaya as he said, "We are NOT BL!"

"Haha," Chiyoko gave an amused smile, and then she said, "You guys are so close."

Marui muttered something under his breath, but then Akaya perked up as he grinned at Chiyoko and said, "Open it, your gift!"

"Oh, right," Chiyoko nodded, and then commented, "We kind off forgot it, didn't we?"

Without waiting for anyone to react, Chiyoko gingerly opened the gift, and then she beamed as she saw the gift, and then she said, "…It's beautiful!"

-End Chapter-

A/N: What's the gift?! Review anything as a gift, like if you think it's a flower or a coat, haha ) It's none of that, but, still, it would be nice to know what do you think Aka-chan would give Chiyoko? So review, ne?

I noticed that this was a roller-coaster of a chapter, from crack to intense to crack to friendship. Hehe, the effects of stress, I guess. -.-ll Still, I think it was pretty good

And minna, thanks for reading the story, ne :D Cookies for everyone!

sleeepymode: Thanks for following Complications :D

SapphireAlley: Thanks for favoriting and following the story *hugs*

Skyla15699: Hehe, you make me blush :'' Thanks for the follow and favorite :*


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